[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 1758]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             WORKING TOGETHER TO MAKE PROGRESS FOR AMERICA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Chandler). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Welch) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. WELCH of Vermont. Mr. Speaker, I, too, am a new Member of 
Congress and proud to be part of an institution that has been the 
cradle of democracy, and very proud to be part of this new class of 
Republicans and Democrats that came here in the year 2007.
  Mr. Speaker, in Vermont, and I think across America, average citizens 
were somewhat bewildered when they looked at what was happening in 
Washington. When they saw us go from a record surplus to a record 
deficit, the only conclusion they could come to was we had lost our 
way.
  When they saw that the drug companies prevailed in actually getting 
legislation that prohibited price negotiation to get the best price for 
taxpayers and seniors, they thought America had lost its way.
  When they saw that over the course of 9 years, Congress had allowed 
itself nine pay increases totaling $31,000, but the minimum wage worker 
was stuck at $5.15 an hour, they thought America had lost its way.
  When they saw that when major legislation was brought before this 
body and the vote was extended for 3 or 4 hours in order to arm-twist, 
persuade people to change their votes, they thought Congress had lost 
its way.
  I believe what this election was about across America was people in 
Vermont and people in districts from Vermont to California saying that 
they wanted Congress to start solving problems. What this 100 hours was 
about was making a down payment to America, where we are trying to give 
confidence to Americans that this Congress can do the work that needs 
to be done to improve the lives of average, everyday people. The 
strength of our democracy has always depended on a strong middle-class 
and opportunities for people at the low income level who want to climb 
the ladder of opportunity.
  What we have done in this first 100 hours, frankly, working together 
with many on the other side of the aisle, is establish that we actually 
can govern and we can pass legislation that will be meaningful. We have 
rejected politics as being about finding wedge issues that will divide 
us so that we can focus on economic issues that can unite us. And this 
is a beginning, it is not an end.
  These first 100 hours, in my view, have been remarkable. We have 
changed the way Congress does business by enacting ethics reforms; no 
meals, no free trips, no free travel, and we did this with the support 
of 68 Republicans.
  To return to fiscal responsibility, we adopted pay-as-you-go 
budgeting. That is going to impose itself on Republicans and Democrats, 
whether proposing spending increases for programs you favor or tax cuts 
you might want to advocate for. We did this with the support of 48 
Republicans.
  To help working families who have really been squeezed as our economy 
starts widening between those who have and everyone else, we passed 
cuts in student loan interest rates that will save the average student 
about $4,400 over the life of the loan, and we did that with the 
support of 124 Republicans.
  We passed, of course, the first minimum wage increase in 10 years, 
and that is going to help America's lowest paid workers, and we did 
that with all the Democrats and the support of 82 Republicans.
  And on and on; on stem cell research, on the recommendations of the 
9/11 Commission, and the commonsense step of ending tax breaks for Big 
Oil that costs taxpayers $14 billion, while it increased our dependence 
on foreign oil and put off the day when we embraced the challenge and 
obligation all of us know we have, to move towards alternative energy.
  What we know is this: America has very severe challenges: Health 
care, 47 million Americans without it; health care for the Americans 
that do have it, that they are increasingly finding they can't afford; 
bringing our troops home from Iraq; restoring our budget to balance; 
moving in a new direction on energy.
  What we know is true is that the only way we are going to solve those 
problems is if we work together. We are in it together, and it is by 
working together, as we have in these past 100 hours, that we can make 
progress for America.
  Mr. Speaker, thank you for this opportunity.

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